Christy – Page 9

Have You Tried Freezer Cooking? {Review}

Please note: MyFreezEasy gave us a free MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership for the purposes of this review. I told them all about our situation and how brutally honest I would have to be, but they gave it to us anyway. They’re either super brave, or they’re super confident about their subscription. Specifically, we are using the Premium Annual Membership. Also, this contains affiliate links (see my note at the bottom about becoming an affiliate after I reviewed the product and loved it).

If you’re a totally normal person, you might prefer to watch the video on the bottom of the FAQ Page or read what other reviewers have to say by clicking on this banner:

MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership {MyFreezEasy}

If, however, you are restrained by dietary issues, budgets tighter than my waistband on Thanksgiving, or a kitchen so small your kids think an apartment is a mansion, you’re in the right place.

First, a brief description:

MyFreezEasy is a menu planning subscription service that offers meal plans designed to be frozen for later.

Was that brief enough for you?

Now, some details:

There are a variety of different meal plan options, as you can see on this self-explanatory graphic below…which I will not explain:

Each meal plan gives you two each of five different meals, except, obviously, the 20-meal plan, which doubles it. You can do that math yourself if you don’t believe me. So, if you follow a meal plan exactly, you will end up with, for example, two chicken taco meals, two Italian chicken meals, two whatever-else-is-on-your-plan meals, for a total of 10. Get it?

The premium plan allows you to swap out meals, essentially building your own plan according to your needs. Of course, if you’re like me, and you subscribe to a meal plan because you don’t want to have to build your own plan, the many options above encompass quite a few needs and preferences. And the meal plans themselves offer gluten-free and dairy-free options to further meet your needs.

There are also a number of printables…like these:

That includes the following:

printable labels with directions on how to prep those beauties you just tucked into your freezer.
shopping lists arranged per recipe and per store section.
instructions for freezing the meal
instructions for making the meal right away (so you can make one and freeze one–you do need to eat on freezer cooking day after all)
prep instructions
assembly instructions by the recipe or everything at once

There is also a video for each of the meal plans.

Time for our limitations:

We have the following issues which make using a meal plan made by anybody but us difficult at best:

We have a daughter with Crohn’s disease who is on a restricted diet, and no, that doesn’t just mean dairy-free or gluten-free, and no you don’t know what we’re going through just because you’re lactose intolerance or your cat has ulcerative colitis. (Did I just sound off? Sorry.)
We are a family of 10. We eat more food than a family of four. You’re welcome for sharing that obviousness.
We live in a travel trailer and have roughly 250 square feet.
We cook with a single burner and have limited use of ovens and other modern conveniences.
We live on a music missionary’s salary. (Just so you know, music missionaries don’t get a salary–we live off the donations of those who listen to our music and CD purchases.)
Our freezer isn’t much taller than my head.
We don’t really have good printer access.
We don’t have good internet access.
We have an eratic schedule and time constraints.

Want to know how MyFreezeEasy meals measured up?

Let’s tackle each issue one by one.

1. Restricted diet.

See that Clean Eating Plan? We used it. In September, it was great! Hannah can’t eat potatoes, so I cooked those separately, but otherwise we could all eat every meal exactly as written. Those of you who have to cook a variety of foods for a variety of conditions are in tears of joy with me right now, aren’t you?

In October, I was super excited to check out the Clean Eating plan, but alas, the spinach burgers had bread crumbs in–two cups! That ain’t clean eatin’ in our book, so I had to swap that out. Another recipe used taco seasoning and yet another used vinaigrette dressing. Because I don’t have any of those things on hand and can’t easily find them, I have to look up another recipe or (as I do) make something up. I was bummed to have to resort to that again.

That said, it wasn’t a huge deal, since I’m used to it. I still would have so much preferred they used real, clean ingredients instead of blends and bottles. With the premium membership, of course, you can swap out, but I don’t want to do that. I want to open, shop, prep, and cook. Probably not an issue for most of you. So, five stars in September, four in October.

2. Lots of mouths to feed.

The plans are adjustable. Feed as many or as few people as you want. I used the plans as written for four people and simply fed both bags of food to my hordes, with a few extra veggies, taters, or meat pieces.

3. Space.

Prepping really didn’t take up that much space. I had my chopper set up at the table and I worked at the counter in my “red zone.” (My red zone is where I work with raw meat. I set out a red cutting board and everyone knows the cooties will be flying in that space. All raw meat action happens on that cutting board. When I’m finished, I disinfect whatever I used.) It worked great.

What kind of chopper do I use, you ask? This kind:

An eight-year-old with a good knife and an even better attitude. Works for me! If you have a power chopper, it’s probably faster, but less fun.

4. Limited cooking appliances.

We did not cook all the meals exactly as we were instructed. If you’ve been living like us, however, and someone says roast this or grill that or bury this in the ground and unearth it three months later, you are accustomed to adapting. We popped things in the pressure cooker instead of a crock pot or oven and threw everything else in a pot o nthe burner. It worked.

Would it have been better roasted, for example, probably. Was it bad not roasted? Not at all.

5. Budget.

Here’s where the rubber meets the road and why I have never before told you guys to follow an already prescribed meal plan instead of making your own. I buy food that’s on sale and build my menu according to sales and what I already have on hand. Buying the food for the September meal plan was more expensive than my approach. Fact. For October, however, I switched things up a little and substituted meats and other ingredients based on sales. So, whereas the menu called for ground chicken, I found a good deal on ground beef, and whereas another recipe called for chicken breasts, I found manager’s special beef steaks for less. So, I swapped out.

Plus, MyFreezEasy offers three plans based on whatever’s on sale–the chicken, beef, and pork plans. That right there is going to save you a lot of money, since you probably have many or most of the other ingredients in your pantry already–there’s nothing out of the ordinary on these plans, no squid eyeball ink.

6. Freezer space.

I told you my freezer isn’t much taller than my head. See:

Okay, so that picture is from the outside of the freezer. The inside is much, much smaller. I didn’t show you the inside, because I’m embarrassed by the sheer quantity of frozen chocolate in there. Mmmmm…chocolate. (As an aside, this is Hannah’s homemade chocolate–so good! No sugar. Yum!) It also contains frozen veggies and fruit, which takes up pretty much all the space. So, with the chocolate and produce, there isn’t a ton of room for freezer meals.

That is a problem that’s hard to work around. Fortunately, because we used two bags as one meal instead of two, we were able to store some in the freezer and some in the fridge (why does that word have a “d” in it?). We ate the fridge meals first.

Also, lucky us, our refrigerator freezes things during some times of the year, so, like lettuce becomes frozen lettuce sludge in twelve hours. That comes in handy when storing freezer meals in the fridge.

Finally, the meals in the bags take up less space than the ingredients in their separate packaging. If you get on the stick and prep the meals right away, you don’t need room to store all that meat, and that provides more room in the fridge and freezer.

7. Printer

We didn’t print. It still worked fine. Between my Sharpie marker and my sharp memory, it was just fine. (I don’t have a sharp memory. That was a leeeeetle joke. A very leeeetle joke.)

8. Internet access.

Again, this is as sketchy as my memory, so watching the videos was not always possible. Who cares! I did it without the videos. No problem!

9. Time

We are busy. We never know when we’ll be called on to be somewhere that isn’t “home” and how long arriving at our next destination will really take, since Google doesn’t know everything. Still, it took only an hour to bag these meals, and a few minutes to throw them in the pots. No biggie!

Having the shopping list ready made shopping a breeze.

Now the big question:

How was the food?

If you’re not already cooking for your family, they are going to be blown away. If you are, you might find a few meals that will be bumped into family favorites or a regular rotation–it really depends on the family preferences and the meals.

My family enjoyed all the meals (even the lentil stew I accidentally made with unlabeled split-peas, since neither my marker nor my mind were on duty the day I repackaged those). Okay, so my hubby doesn’t eat lentils, but the rest of us were good! There is one from the first month that I will be making again, and we haven’t eaten the second month’s stash yet.

My one gripe:

As you know, my one gripe is the three processed ingredients in the Clean Eating plan. If you have a source for safe processed ingredients, you’re good, but in my experience those are more expensive, so we make them ourselves. Having the single ingredients listed instead of, say, vinaigrette or taco seasoning, would make this gripe vanish like Hannah’s chocolate!

Still, five stars!

You know something–this link right here is an affiliate link to join MyFreezEasy. You know something else–I didn’t hunt down an affiliate link until after I had published this post. In other words, I like it, I want to promote it, so I found an affiliate link for it, not the other way around where people promote it whether they like it or not.

I’m outta here! Happy eats!

Social Media Links:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/freezeasy
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/freezeasy
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/5dollardinners/freezeasy

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Christy’s Simple Tips–How to Clean a Vacuum Beater Bar

When people find out that there are seven girls in our family of nine, they often remark to my son and husband, “Oh, you poor things!” Whatever. Wink.

The one who truly deserves the pity is our poor vacuum cleaner. The beater bar on the vacuum gets so wound up with girl and golden retriever hair that the beater bar becomes more of a carpet buffer.

No problem! With a few quick passes using a stitch ripper, the beater bar is as good as new. Just insert the tip in under the hair and slide the ripper through. Voila! (That’s vwah-la, for those of you who are pronouncing that vee-oh-la. Voila is French for “see there;” a viola is a stringed instrument. Get it? Got it? Good. Back to the vacuum beater bar.) It’s like new, and you didn’t break your scissors, slice a vital artery with a kitchen knife, or take apart the whole vacuum and forget how to put it back together again. Been there!

If you don’t have a stitch ripper, you can grab one at any craft or sewing store, or in the craft and sewing section of your local discount department store. They are also available online for a reasonable price. (This is an affiliate link. If you buy something through this link, a portion of Amazon’s profits go to us…so we can make cookies for the poor outnumbered boys in the family. Wink.)

Now go rescue your vacuum cleaners!

Contact me to submit your simple tips to Christy’s Simple Tips for future publication and a link to your blog or website.

Poetry Study and Spiritual Growth with George Herbert

Take note, loyal readers! We were given a copy of Working it Out: Poetry Analysis with George Herbert. from Everyday Education, LLC in exchange for this review.

Other reviewers were given the same, or they reviewed Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting for elementary or remedial learners (or me–my handwriting needs help, so I realized in the grocery store when I couldn’t tell if I needed colostrum or a caboose…so I bought chocolate) and Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers, for high school into college. If you want to see what they have to say, click on the banner below. If you want to hear what I have to say, well, good people, you’re in the right place!

Now, I know I said that this is a fair and unbiased review, but I have been a Janice Campbell stalker for a long time. Her sight, Everyday Education, shares her experience as a homeschooler of four boys who have already graduated…so you’re not getting a preschool mom’s views on teaching teens–pet peeve! Her approach is a Charlotte Mason approach, combined with some Jeffersonian education and classical. What that boils down to, for those of you who think I just spoke a foreign 0language, is no busy work and no dumbed-down reading.

I love her perspective and her articles. I think that might taint my perspective just a bit…don’t you? I don’t care! If you care, stuff a cookie in your mouth–that will make you feel better.

This is what she gave us:

The idea behind Working it Out: Poetry Analysis with George Herbert is that it is both a spiritual exercise and a lesson in poetry analysis.

Who is this Herbert guy?

Herbert is a British poet and rector from the 17th century. You may have heard him quoted by the likes of C.S. Lewis and Jan Karon, two personal faves of mine. Any friend of Lewis and Karon is a friend of mine! His poetry was published posthumously by a friend. Herbert asked his buddy to read his poems and do something with them if he thought them worthy, but no if they weren’t. What a lesson in humility!

Herbert’s poetry delves deeply into the relationship between God and man, which is where the spiritual growth aspect of this piece comes in. Each poem serves as a launching pad for Biblical discussion and spiritual growth. (When I say “spiritual,” I don’t mean how people mean it today–I mean a relationship and understanding of the true Triune God as presented in Scripture, both Old and New Testament. I’m not getting all New Agey on you.)

What can I do with this book?

The book’s intention is also to help readers understand poetry…and Herbert’s isn’t exactly the easiest to understand, so it’s definitely a study! The methodology you’ll learn to understand it can be applied to any poetry you read…and write, I might add!

The author created a study by breaking each poem down like this:

The Big Picture–what the poem is about
The Parts of the Picture–breaking it down to look at the stanzas, poetry techniques, and other details
The Parts of the Picture Come Together–the flow of the poem, basically. That’s not a good explanation. Basically the overall flow of thought
Reflections–questions to get you thinking
Scriptures for Further Reflection–self-explanatory

If you study it weekly, it will take you a year to work through the 51 works. I recommend taking a year and a half or two, so poetry is enjoyed and not forced down your children’s throats. MY kids love poetry, but not all are the same.

I also recommend using a few of these pieces as memory and copy work. They would look beautiful printed neatly and framed. I do encourage you, from time to time, to have the children imitate Herbert’s style and write poems of their own on similar topics. You may well be amazed and ignite a spark in your children.

I don’t recommend this as your child’s first exposure to poetry. If, however, your children have enjoyed simpler poetry, this is a most excellent method of taking it to the next level. With a poet in the family (our Hannah), I love how this shows ways you can use poetry to God’s glory, which she strives to do also, by the way.

Roadschoolers, this is a digital download, so you can pop it on to your devices when you have the opportunity. No space, no constant internet access…hooray…unless you’re old school like me and prefer a book in hand, which, sadly, takes up space. I know, my life is full of inner turmoil. Wink wink.

Get to know Janice Campbell a bit better through social media, if that’s how you roll. The links are below:

Remember, you can read what other reviewers have to say about this and her other products through this banner right here:

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Little History Lessons for Your Young Readers

In exchange for this review, my family was blessed with four history books brought to you by Carole P. Roman and Awaywegomedia.com.

We were given the following four books:

If You Were Me and Lived in…Renaissance Italy (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 2)

If You Were Me and Lived in… Elizabethan England (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 3)

If You Were Me and Lived in…Colonial America (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 4)

If You Were Me and Lived in…the American West (Volume 7)

Also available are the following:

If You Were Me and Lived in…Ancient Greece (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 1)

If You Were Me and Lived in…Viking Europe

If You Were Me and Lived in…Ancient China: The Han Dynasty

If You Were Me and Lived in…the Middle Ages (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 6)

(Some of those are affiliate links, so if you click on them and buy anything through Amazon, my family will earn a percentage of the purchase price at no additional cost to you. It will probably go to replacing tires or repairing leaf springs, so thank you!)

A bit about the series:

Each of these books puts you in a certain place in history and talks about what various aspects of life would have been like for you. It’s that simple.

Also included are illustrations on each page, some with rather lifelike background details, that help the child visualize what it would really have been like. (I really enjoyed the illustrations in the American West book, because we’ve been traveling those states, and it’s an interesting comparative to what we see and do.)

Each book also contains a glossary of terms, which is rather extensive and an enjoyable read in and of itself. (Geek alert–the glossary is so interesting and informative that it’s my favorite part.) Each also contains a mini biography of different people of that time period.

The stories themselves talk not only about life, but tie in interesting topics in history. One that comes to mind is the invention of the violin which is worked into the story in Renaissance Italy.

A bit about how we use these books:

Because almost everything I learned in dry ol’ history books in my schooling years I have forgotten, but almost everything I learned from living books and historical fiction I remember, we tend toward the latter for our history lessons. Therefore, I let my kids dive right into these books, explore them, and share what they found to be interesting. Of course, we chat about them also, but what they discover on their own is what sticks the most.

We also do the following:

Tie it in to our current history or related studies (my wannabe-chef is taking a real foods cooking course and taking a one-month pizza course, so the Renaissance Italy book fit perfectly.)
Leave them in what we call “Book Basket” for an assigned “free reading” period of whatever interests them.
Fill a reading basket with one of these book and others from the same time period for a more extensive history study.
Share this after a read aloud–for example, the Colonial America book would tie in perfectly with the historical fiction books entitled A Little Maid of….
Record what they learn in their timeline books.
Read aloud–either I read to them, someone reads to me, or they read to each other.
Make related food! I totally want to have an Elizabethan England banquet and eat off of trenchers!
Tie this in with field trips–this was ideal for us using the American West book, because the locations are where we are traveling right now. In fact, the book opens with a picture comparing the same view of Williamette Valley in Oregon today versus in the 1800s. Also, the Colonial America book ties in with our previous travels, so it ties into my kids’ memories, although the latter book doesn’t contain the same level of realistic location images as in the American West book. Still, when you tour New England and Plymouth, your children will hear these same lessons, so it’s great if they’re reinforced either before or after the visit…or, hey, even during!

For my fellow roadschoolers:

My kids get the most out of an area when they are a little prepped. We love to have books around that they can read on their own and pass around, or read together and study. The American West book is great for that right now, since that’s where we are.

Also, the size of these books is manageable–they’re pretty much the size of a Berenstain Bear book, the paperbacks, that is, not the complete series.

The critic in me says:

I would have liked a little more consistency across the books. My younger kids didn’t really care about the switch in illustrators, but I like a series to be pretty consistent. It in no way compromises the value of the book, but I’m picky. There, I said it. I’m picky. It did give us numerous artistic discussions and comparisons, which was particularly helpful with artists in the family.

Since other reviewers checked out different books, check them out by clicking on the banner below:

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Audio Adventurers — G. A. Henty in Egypt

Note: Heirloom Audio Productions sent us a free copy of the audio adventure The Cat of Bubastes based on the book of the same name by G.A. Henty in exchange for this review.

I wish you could have seen my kids’ faces when they opened the package from Heirloom Audio Productions and saw The Cat of Bubastes. You would have thought it was Christmas! Actually, I don’t wish you could have seen them, because that would have meant you were in our trailer, and there’s just no more room for any more people in our trailer. Okay, maybe a couple, but that’s it!

Here’s why this is so exciting:

The Cat of Bubastes is the first Henty book we read when we were studying ancient Egypt a decade ago. Actually, we listened to it on Librivox. There are some really excellent readers on Librivox, and there are some…faithful volunteers. Our reader was one of those faithful volunteers that really grew on us. The story line is excellent and exciting, and it was a delightful experience, but, again, our reader was a faithful volunteer. And the whole listening process took us over a month. (I don’t have a problem with that at all, by the way.)

With an Heirloom audio adventure, you get the same story line dramatically recreated by professionals which you can listen to in under three hours. It’s time-saving and voice-saving, and your kids will not be bored.

Am I saying the audio productions should replace the books? Not at all! But I know that in my house, there is so much to read, that sometimes it’s nice just to listen…and sometimes it’s nice to listen for three hours instead of 30 hours.

I also know that it was an Heirloom audio production that turned my 10-year-old son on to historical fiction, and it was The Cat of Bubastes which made my first four girls into Henty fans. Put them together and you’ve got a mini masterpiece.

(Doesn’t that cat look evil? I’m not telling you the story-line, but it isn’t about a sweet, loveable kitty like our Tuppence…when she’s not in her black-eyed attack mode.)

As a homeschooler and a parent, I look at almost everything from an educational perspective. (Let’s assess how to make those spitballs more aerodynamic, kids!) There are three areas of education as I see it in the Henty books:

Character
History
Literature

With an audio production, number three is missing. However, in the case of an Heirloom production, it is replaced by:

Music
Drama

One thing that is a burr in my first world saddle as a Christian in the western world is the poor quality of so many Christian productions. They don’t generally measure up to what the secular world produces, but people praise them anyway because of the message. This is not the case with Heirloom!

The music composed by John Campbell is brilliantly written and beautifully performed. The dramatic production is of the same caliber as Narnia, Hobbit, Star Wars. In fact, some of the actors who lend their voices to The Cat of Bubastes can be seen in the credits of those and other major flicks. I’m not going to drop names (which you can see here), but suffice it to say this is very well done and you will not be disappointed or embarrassed to share it with others.

The audio CD comes with digital bonuses that can enhance the enjoyment and educational experience. It includes the following:

Study guide
Sound track of the music
Digital copy of the dramatic production (Heads up, roadschoolers!)
The Cat of Bubastes E-book (Be still my literary heart!)
Poster with an inspirational verse
Poster with the cast–like a promotional movie poster (Are you getting some fun ideas here? Popcorn, tickets, friends or cousins…?)
Unlimited access to the Live the Adventure newsletter (well done and down to earth)
A behind-the-scenes how-we-did-it video (great for the aspiring filmographer…or audiographer)

I want to focus on the study guide…and since I want to, I’m going to. I love not having an editor! Wink wink.

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The study guide is intended to help younger children comprehend the story better or older students to do some deeper digging. It includes the following sections:

Listening Well (comprehension questions which let you know if you need to do a re-listen)
Thinking Further (questions that require thinking deeper, drawing conclusions, or doing a little research)
Defining Word (vocabulary)
Further Reading (uh, further reading)
Bible study (three brief studies)

While the production is wonderful without the study, the guide enhances it all the more. We use it sometimes, but not always.

Again, I’m not going to share the plot with you. You can explore that yourself, or read what other reviewers have to say by clicking on the banner below:

What you do need to know is that this is set in the time of ancient Egypt during the time when the Israelites were living in Goshen. It offers an excellent picture of what life was like during the time of Moses in Egypt.

Why is this important? It helps children understand that the Bible is not a separate little aspect of life. It is a true and accurate depiction of real life–real people in real times. By incorporating children into the story, Henty helps children picture themselves in that time period and truly relate.

Enough from me. Let’s listen to the executive producer, Bill Heid, on the importance of sharing Christian history with our children:

At Heirloom Audio Productions, we are passionate about bringing Christian history to life. We are truly thankful for all God has done for us and refuse to take our precious history for granted.

The Bible also admonishes us to constantly “remember” and to teach our children to do the same. That’s why it’s so important to know where we’ve come from and who we are as Christians. If we forget our history and allow ourselves to become culturally conditioned by the world, we will lose our greatest possession.

So while we do everything we can to make our stories fun and exciting… there’s a lot at stake here… nothing less than the heart and soul of civilization itself.

It also means we feel God requires us to go the extra mile, taking our Audio Adventures to a new level of excellence. Our mission, simply stated, is to engage our listeners’ imagination by taking them back in time and immersing them in a great Christian story.

We sincerely hope that you will join us in this mission by helping us spread the word about our efforts and in so doing, ignite a passion for history and Christian character in the next generation.

Bill Heid, Executive Producer, Heirloom Audio

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With a mission like that, I’m completely sold on this company.

This is not just for us homeschoolers. It would make an excellent gift for any family. It’s a great “movie night” alternative (although there are some exciting sections that will not let your kids get to sleep), an excellent option for roadtrips, and a fantastic part of your morning time or lunch break.

The Pray-ers {A Book Review}

I was given a free e-copy CTM Publishing Atlanta’s book by author Mark S. Mirza entitled The Pray-ers / Book 1 Troubles in exchange for this fair and honest review.

The challenge in a book review is not to give away the plot, especially the ending, of a book, so I won’t. I won’t tell you any of the plot at all. I will tell you this:

Pray-ers is a story of demons, angels, humans, and the power of prayer, partially in ancient times, partially in modern times. That’s all I’m telling you about the story. If you want more plot, read what other reviewers have to say by clicking on the banner below:

Instead of a plot summary, I’m giving you some thoughts.

I first dove into this book ready for a fast weekend’s read, but I soon gave that idea up. This book is not something you read lightly on vacation. I had to go back to the beginning and re-read with my Bible (app) at hand. The book is loaded with Biblical references and teachings on prayer. It is definitely a novel, but it could also be used as a Bible study about prayer. In fact, that is what it has become for me, as I research each verse as it is notated in the footnotes and read the context to make sure the lesson in the book is Scripturally sound.

I really appreciate the explanation of prayer as a relationship. While it was hard to hear, it was also interesting to learn about how to pray and when God closes his ears. I’m still studying up on that a bit, since it doesn’t entirely jive with my understanding of child-like faith.

The examples of the men of prayer in the book can be taken to heart and applied to our own lives. The historical context is educational and intriguing.

Here’s where it gets touchy: the demons and angels.

Reading about the demons made me feel…creepy. Seriously creeped out people. Like sleep with a light on creeped out. It was almost worse when the demons were kind than when they were outright ugly.

The angels had the exact opposite effect. I felt protected. Well done, author! (Here’s a picture of the author, so you know whom I’m talking about.)

A couple writing issues:

I would have liked to see a little more editing. While the author is indeed an excellent writer, some tightening would improve the readability. It is a deep read and weighty stuff, and it would be more accessible to a wider audience if it were just a bit, well, “tighter” as my editor calls it. Otherwise, there were a few errors that jumped out at me as a writer, but probably wouldn’t bother people who didn’t have errors scream at them.

The demon names are not capitalized. I completely agree with the author’s decision to do this, but it makes it difficult to read until you get used to it. It took me a long time to get used to it, especially since the demons names are not “normal” and I thereby thought they were words I didn’t know…since there are so many. You get used to it in time…probably more time for me than for you.

Also, the author begins the book with a lengthy explanation of what he wants you to get out of the book. I don’t like that. Let the book do the talking. The writing is good enough to convey that meaning. In fact, the writing itself is very well done, moving the heart to want a closer relationship with God and a stronger prayer life. The author moves you to want to take up arms against the demons by getting on your knees, or, in my Lutheran circles, bowing your head and being very quiet and still.

I recommend this book for very mature high schoolers and adults. My older daughters did not want to read this book because of the demon factor. While I respect this, the demons themselves often mention the power their Enemy (Jesus) has over them. Battle fought, battle won, victor—Jesus.

It’s a great read, but more important, it’s a great prayer life builder. I’m still studying up on some of the doctrine to compare it to Scripture, and tossing some things around with my husband—I’m not a Scriptural know-it-all, but if I see anything that I believe is amiss, I will mention it here.

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Contact me to submit your simple tips to Christy’s Simple Tips for future publication and a link to your blog or website.

Welcome to the Serve One Another in Love Café!

How do you encourage your children to serve one another in love?